NCPI to roll out simple version of USSD for feature phones

In a bid to reach out to the less tech-savvy people, NCPI will be rolling out a simple version of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that can be used on feature mobile phones in next 15 days.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, ”NCPI is already working to make USSD (*99#) very simple, convenient, robust and to link it with UPI. So in another 15-20 days, we will have a very new version of USSD with many strong and robust easy to handle features.”

In the midst of cash-crunch, post-demonetization, this move will push the digital transaction in a big way, particularly in rural areas. Currently, there are about 400 million feature mobile handset users in the country.

The panel is also working out ways to achieve interoperability of unified payment interface (UPI) of various banks. This will enable account holders to use their banks’ UPI with subscribers of other banks’ UPI for making and receiving cashless payments.

Apart from feature phones, the panel is also working to improvise the Aadhaar enabled payment system. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu who is the Convener of the panel said that Aadhaar enabled payment system is a low hanging fruit for moving toward the digital economy.

“Under the Aadhaar enabled payment system, the consumer can make payment using their 12 digits unique identity number with biometric authentication bypassing debit/credit cards, pins and passwords required for a transaction,” Naidu said.